Jenna Setchell’s huge day at the plate helps Serena beat conference rival Newark, advance to sectional final

SERENA – Jenna Setchell offered a shy smile when asked about her batting stance that starts with her bat held high above her head.

There is substance behind that style.

“I guess I’ve been told to keep my hands high because I kept bringing them down,” said Setchell, Serena’s senior shortstop. “It’s definitely a timing thing. When I get anxious, my hands always come down. If I start higher, as I’m waiting my hands will end up in the right spot. It’s really high, I know, but it works.”

Whatever Setchell’s approach is, it was working Tuesday.

She had three hits, reached base four times, drove in three runs and scored twice.

Maddie Glade struck out 11 and took a shutout into the sixth inning, and Serena held on to beat Newark 9-5 in a Class 1A Serena Sectional semifinal.

The Huskers (26-6) advanced to Friday’s sectional final against the winner of Wednesday’s Marquette-St. Edward semifinal.

RayElle Brennan and Brynley Glade each scored two runs for Serena, which built a 6-0 lead in winning the third meeting with Newark after splitting two games in Little Ten Conference play. Rylie Carlson was 3 for 3 with a run scored and RBI for Newark (19-15-1).

Setchell was hitless in six at-bats in the two previous games with Newark, but Serena’s No. 3 hitter was in the middle of all her team’s rallies Tuesday.

Her hard-hit ball under the third baseman’s glove scored Brennan with the first run of the game in the first, and Setchell scored the second on a passed ball.

Setchell singled in Brynley Glade for a 5-0 lead in the fifth and lined a two-run single in Serena’s three-run sixth after Newark had closed to within 6-3 in the top half.

“She just crushed it,” Serena coach Kelly Baker said. “The first two times we played them she really struggled and we faced [Newark pitcher] Dottie [Wood] both times, a great pitcher who hits her spots. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. So we had to make adjustments.”

Setchell keeping her hands high and not dropping, Baker noted, is a common theme, even it means adopting Setchell’s unorthodox stance.

“We try everything because it’s really hard to make those in-game adjustments,” Baker said. “Sometimes we’ll show bunt, then pull back. It’s those little things so we’re not dipping, because we dip.”

Baker liked Setchell’s approach Tuesday, both physically and mentally.

“I liked that she was able to get her timing down and she went up in the box with confidence,” Baker said. “Before she was just hoping to put the bat on the ball. This time she came in with the confidence that she was going to get a hit.”

Neither Glade nor Wood gave up a hit the first two innings, but Serena still was able to jump ahead 3-0 early.

The Huskers scored three runs in the first with the help of an error, a passed ball and a wild pitch.

“We were chasing the whole game,” Newark coach Jon Wood said. “Give it up, Serena came out and played clean. We made a few mistakes.”

Serena added three more in the fifth for a 6-0 lead, Maddie Glade squeezing in Setchell for the sixth run.

“It was good to have some insurance runs so we weren’t stressed out,” Setchell said.

Glade struck out 10 over the first five innings, and Maddie Young made a diving catch in right field in the first, and also threw out a runner at first base on a hit to right. Finley Brodbeck made a diving stop of a hard one-hopper for the final out of the fourth.

“They’ve done that all year,” Baker said. “Somebody picks the other girls up. It’s not just one superstar. It’s literally the whole team.”

Newark, which started just three seniors with three freshmen and two sophomores, kept coming late. A single by freshman shortstop Brooklyn Wallin made it 6-3.

“This is what we do,” Wood said. “I’ve said before that we are a young team, but they have learned to compete all the way to the last inning. We didn’t go quietly today.”

Carlson, another freshman who hit a team-high .527 this season, was on base all four times and singled in Newark’s last run.

“She has come in and been a true utility player. We needed a pitcher, and she came in and filled that void, too,” Wood said of his center fielder. “She truly can play anywhere, and she has a little sister that’s coming next year.”